Be a Man

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Her protagonists often live in limbo; as the narrator in the story “Amour” puts it, Jewish homes can be spaces “where being American was an accident of history, English an accident of history, nature an accident of history. The global trend of declining fertility rates and an increasingly ageing population has serious implications for individuals and institutions alike. I am stunned and embarrassed by the term, the sudden privilege and power that emanates from my white male skin. This book is a brave and full-blooded deep-dive into the challenges and opportunities facing men and masculinity in the 21st century. I want to believe that my past is behind me, that I will look at him forever, that we are undivided.

It comes unexpectedly on this particular day, but I’ve been thinking and expecting it for as long as I can remember. Polly knows what it is to be treated as a woman and to live inside the confines of the female gender. The inescapable doubling of the transgender body, expressed as if doubling means a life can never be complete, as if a certain combination of body parts is necessary to achieve “happiness,” even for a best friend who knows which pronouns to use. In this book they answer questions many men are just too embarrassed to ask, How do you swallow a sword?I’m wearing my brother Tim’s purple paisley shirt, an article of clothing I adored; it’s unbuttoned and my naked chest is sticking out proudly and I have a huge smile on my face.

Depending on who sees me and in what context, my body is grouped with these men and Collins in this moment in history—a threat not just to women but also to a fragile democracy on the brink of collapse, in part over a gender divide that has never been more volatile. So often they are invisible but Hadley shines the light on them, their stories and investigates the consequences for them as they age at a personal level and also in terms of health and social care provision. First, it is very well referenced and equipped with details related to methodology of the study… It is well written, often in a personalised language, with accounts of the author’s experiences related both to the process of data collection and analysis and to the dissemination of results.

Hadley is very special – it is about childlessness and not only about infertility, it is also about men and their views on childlessness and its effect on their lives.